Experts explain how Ukrainian sanctions will affect Russian banks

The National Bank of Ukraine has proposed prohibiting banks with Russian capital to withdraw funds outside the country

Sanctions suggested by the National Bank of Ukraine against subsidiaries of Russian credit institutions working in the country will not be a shock for parent banks, Senior Director of Fitch Ratings Alexander Danilov told TASS on Wednesday. "Even if Russian banks have to sell their subsidiaries in Ukraine with a maximal discount, losses of parent banks will be insignificant. The share of Ukrainian subsidiaries of Sberbank and VTB in assets of parent companies is less than 1%, the share of Prominvestbank is slightly higher, so withdrawal of subsidiaries will not affect stability of these institutions," Danilov said. Expert of the Russian Analytical Credit Rating Agency (ACRA) Kirill Lukashuk agrees that the introduction of sanctions by the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) against subsidiaries of Russian banks will not significantly influence parent institutions. "I think this is essentially an attempt to force Russian banks to sell their subsidiaries. Most probably, this is a scenario viewed by the NBU as the main one," the expert told TASS.

Grounds for sanctions are unclear

The Ukrainian banking market will not benefit from exit of Russian banks’ subsidiaries, President of the Association of Russian Banks (ARB) Garegin Tosunyan told TASS on Wednesday. Objectives and grounds for Ukraine’s sanctions against these banks are unclear, the Russian banker said. "Our banks are not going to leave the Ukrainian market. Let the National Bank of Ukraine explain, what they want from that. Subsidiaries of Russian banks provide services for Ukrainian customers, give loans to them, and work under laws of Ukraine. I hope the Ukrainian side will drop this idea, because it will not receive anything good from that," Tosunyan said. Grounds for sanctions are unclear, the ARB President said. "I cannot understand what can be the basis to recommend prohibitions for subsidiaries of Russian banks. At least there should be any grounds to do so," Tosunyan said. The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) has proposed prohibiting banks with Russian capital to withdraw funds outside the country. Imposition of such sanctions will impose a ban on any operations in favor of parent banks - granting inter-bank loans, deposits, purchases of securities, payment of dividends and other operations, Deputy Head of the NBU Yakov Smoliy said. Sanctions will be imposed against Sberbank, Prominvestbank, VTB, BM Bank and VS Bank, the NBU representative added.